Horses man :( :)

We have been really nice to our horses lately. They have gotten to go on lots of adventure rides. Last week we took a truckload out to a huge hill farm for hillwork and yesterday we took  truckload over the hill for cross country training. The hill work was mostly to tone up some fatties and put some fitness and go forward on some lazier versions. Connie naturally being a fatty needed the hill work! She was the slowest horse up the hill all day. I swear the hill was probably eroding down to her faster than she was climbing up it. That being said she has spent the last five months on a hill.

Now as a recap Connie was turned out for being lame. We never knew 100% what it was but she nerve blocked in her foot and was sound, and she had some balance issues with her shoeing. She does have a somewhat club foot that isn't easy to keep balanced. A course of Bute and two weeks off and she should have been sweet however the low grade niggly offness lingered. She would be less than a 1 out of 5. so i just turned her away until July, knowing that most likely it would be something that needed time. Also her x-rays were beautiful and her joints pristine. Roll on July and she has been feeling fantastic. However, after the hill ride it was back. Massive sad face. Huge massive sad face. That being said she was ready to be pushed a bit more, I have to know if she will hold up. Anyway at this point in time I will see what she looks like tomorrow and go from there. I am thinking perhaps of putting her in foal. Now while you all recoil in horror because she has a slightly clubby foot I would like to point out that if I knew then what I knew now it would have been a lot better and I would have gotten on top of it earlier and she is a proven jumper whom is otherwise a stunning horse and has a neat nature.

Yesterday was the bomb. I rode Willis and Butch. Cross country is very very scary. Willis was a good boy just very very green which he is, having never jumped any cross country fences ever before in his life. He got quite bold by the end but then he went past that and got over tired and adrenaline brained. Babies. They are such babies. So he had a paddle in the water jump and dropped off the bank into it and was in general a very good boy. He hesitated at the ditch in the coffin so hard that I saw spit fly out of my mouth but I didn't fall and he still went which is pretty much the goal! Horse stayed between me and the ground at all times.

Butch. Now Butch was a boss. He loves it! He jumped everything, never faltered, even jumped some pretty big fences and every time we pulled up he would flap his lips with happiness. Ditches, water, palisades, ski jumps, coffins, nothing was an issue. He was just the most fun. And then after like 4 hours of riding I was exhausted. Some pictures!

I love this last one! Anyone of the whole day these are the only pictures of Butch despite a million photographers being there. Just my luck. 

Full photo credit to Ella Bussell- Gallery here 

Here is Willis looking oh so cute. You can see how in the second picture he is has a full stress sweat going. That was one of the last fences he jumped before going for a play in the water jump and then walking home.